Dread suddenly assaulted Elder Ming's heart; it felt as if he were staring directly into the inevitability of death itself. The silhouette of the avatar of death was filled with darkness and the inescapable end of all life.
A swift and powerful palm strike rushed toward Wei Chen, this is a deliberate move from Elder Ming. From his long experience, he discerned that Wei Chen's combat technique relied on claw attacks, which displayed their full power through slashing motions.
A fast and precise palm strike could interrupt that momentum if timed correctly.
Wei Chen wanted to counter with a claw swipe, but the incoming palm energy was too fast. He had no choice but to adjust his stance and hurriedly sent a palm strike of his own to meet it; otherwise, he might have been in grave danger.
Boom!
Their attacks collided mid-air, creating a powerful explosion that shook the hall, cracking the ceiling and shattering the surrounding pillars. Debris and dust rained down from above.
Wei Chen was pushed back; pain surged through his arm as if it were about to burst. His skin split in several places, blood spurted out, and the pain was excruciating. He hastily sent another palm strike to deflect the follow-up attack but suffered backlash in return.
Even though his left arm was injured, his right arm, already prepared for a claw strike, remained unaffected.
Whoosh!
A deadly claw strike tore through the air toward Elder Ming, who instantly sensed an overwhelming threat, as if death itself was closing in.
"Numinous Treasure Jade Bell, come!" Elder Ming shouted urgently.
A small jade chime hanging beside him suddenly expanded, forming a barrier that blocked the avatar of death's incoming claw swipe.
Boom!
The avatar's claw sundered the bell, leaving four black claw marks that corroded its surface. It was as if the bell had been left exposed to the elements for centuries. The once-vibrant green jade began to lose its color, turning dull and brown as corrosion spread from the marks outward.
White cracks soon appeared, spiderwebbing across the bell as its structure decayed further and further. The corrosion spread rapidly from the claw marks, and white dust began to fall off in quick succession until the jade bell disintegrated completely into powder.
"What kind of demonic technique is this!? That was a Heaven-grade treasure!" Elder Ming shouted in disbelief as he retreated beyond the avatar of death's reach.
Wei Chen stood on the ground, staring at Elder Ming. He had sacrificed his left arm, aiming to incapacitate that bastard in one strike. He should have guessed that someone like this would possess a life-saving treasure.
In the heat of battle, he had forgotten one of the basic rules of the Xianxia world: most high-ranking bastards like elders or young masters always carried some kind of defensive treasure or trump card to save themselves.
"Now I have a clear picture of your strength," Said, Elder Ming.
"Oh? Tell me," Wei Chen replied with mild curiosity. He was genuinely interested to hear what this old bastard had concluded from their clash.
The elder looked at him and said, "You're not at the Soul Transformation Realm yet. At most, you're just a half-step into the Soul Transformation Realm."
As soon as those words were spoken, a wave of murmurs spread among the guests and those inside the hall. Even Mo Xingyao frowned, but her frown came from suspicion, not disbelief. She was sure Wei Chen was much weaker than that since he couldn't even perceive her true cultivation.
Even though she was certain, she decided to remain silent. It was not in her best interest to expose him.
"Oh? What makes you say that?" Wei Chen asked. In truth, he was only at the half-step Core Formation Realm, not even at Nascent Soul. He wanted to know how this man reasoned so that he could use the same logic in the future to fool others about his true cultivation level.
Although he had received general knowledge of this world, he lacked deeper insights into fields like cultivation systems, herbology, alchemy, and hidden secrets.
"When you attacked, you lacked the understanding of spatial manipulation, which is an inherent trait of the Nascent Soul Realm," Elder Ming explained. "At first, I thought you were below Nascent Soul, but that should be impossible. Even the most heaven-defying genius can only fight one major realm higher, not two or three!"
He paused, letting the crowd digest his words before continuing.
"But… you were able to fend off my attack, though your arm was heavily injured. That means you must be at least at the Nascent Soul Realm. Otherwise, that strike would have turned you into a bloody mist. As for why you lack spatial comprehension…" Elder Ming paused, squinting at Wei Chen as if trying to read him.
"You must have cultivated an assassin's path, one that trades spatial comprehension for bursts of raw power! Otherwise, you couldn't have destroyed my Numinous Treasure Jade Bell! That strike of yours was powerful enough to kill me in one blow, and you even dared to risk trading your arm for my life!"
"In that first attack, either you die or I perish! That is the hallmark of an assassin!" Elder Ming declared confidently.
Wei Chen was stunned. This guy is seriously imaginative!
Me? An assassin? Do I look like a guy who jumps off a high building into a pile of hay and survives!?
"Unfortunately," Elder Ming started, shaking his head and pretending to pity him. "You didn't expect that I would have a treasure capable of guarding against your attack, did you? Judging from the thick aura of death surrounding your combat technique, you must have already killed countless people, perhaps even millions!" Elder Ming declared.
With that statement, the guests erupted in an uproar. Killing millions was not something a normal person could accomplish. For someone to have such a body count, they would have to be extremely old and work in a profession that reaped lives like harvesting wheat.
Or perhaps, they had annihilated several sects on their own to rack up that number.
Man… this old bastard's imagination is really wild… but at the same time, it's kind of reasonable, Wei Chen thought. This is a ruthless Xianxia world where sect annihilation happens every now and then like it's normal.
Besides, with the kind of death toll that is enough for even the Lord of Death to end up like an overworked salaryman. It wasn't hard to believe that people here might treat killing as casually as a sport.
"How despicable!" Shen Tianxuan snapped, his face furious as if he had just witnessed a grave injustice.
He stepped forward and waved his hand, glaring at Wei Chen as if he were the vilest criminal.
"Even if you really are the man Lady Mo chose, I, Shen Tianxuan, will never accept you!" he shouted, righteous outrage in his voice.
"Huh?" Wei Chen looked at Shen Tian Xuan as if he were looking at an idiot.
"Does she need your permission to decide whom she wants to marry? Are you her father? Her relative? Oh, you're not? Then why are you sticking your nose into this? The fact that she chose me and not you, isn't that enough for you to realize she doesn't like your face? Is your head only there to hold your eyes, ears, and mouth? Maybe that's why your brain doesn't work as well as your mouth." Wei Chen spit a long string of insults.
"Hahahaha!" Mo Xingyao burst out laughing when he heard Wei Chen roast Shen Tian Xuan without a care.
Seeing this, Shen Tian Xuan's face turned dark, green, and red. He wanted to tear this piece of trash with the surname Wei to pieces!
"You! Wei Chen!" Shen Tianxuan shouted furiously, pointing at Wei Chen.
"What?" Wei Chen replied, his expression only making it harder for Shen Tianxuan to contain his anger.
Seeing that Shen Tianxuan was about to lose control, Mo Xingyao decided to end this charade.
"Stop this at once, Shen Tianxuan!" Mo Xingyao commanded, her voice reverberating through the great hall.
Shen Tianxuan looked at Mo Xingyao. Her face had lost its usual playful expression; this time, she was utterly serious.
"What is the meaning of this? You came here and tried to kill my fiancé in my territory. Do you think the Sky-Severing Demon Valley has no one who can contend with you?" Mo Xingyao said in a threatening tone.
"Lady Mo…" Shen Tianxuan uttered in disbelief.
"At first, you only asked the elder to test him, and I allowed it because I thought you would stop at an appropriate measure. I never expected you to escalate this conflict!" Mo Xingyao paused, giving Shen Tianxuan a moment to take in her words.
"I'll make this clear right now. Wei Chen is the man I chose. Whoever he was in the past doesn't concern me. Even if he was an assassin who killed millions, I wouldn't care. What matters is that he's the man I chose… and not you, Shen Tianxuan!" Mo Xingyao declared bluntly, without giving any face to Shen Tianxuan or the sect behind him.